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Card Sharks Timeline (Bob Eubanks Version)
This page lists events that occurred during the CBS series from its debut in 1986 until its demise in 1989. 1986 Winter January: *January 6: Series debuts on CBS, replacing Press Your Luck in the 10:30 a.m. time slot. **No X indicators to show who won a game were prevalent. **Models Lacey Pemberton and Suzanna Williams wore the same uniform until October 24, 1986. **Money Cards rules allowed a player to change three cards anywhere on the board - this would only last one month. **When a contestant busts on the Money Cards, the on-screen display reads "$0". *January ##: Perhaps the shortest Money Cards in the CBS run, a contestant busts twice and ends the Money Cards after only three card reveals. *January 20-24: The show gives away over $90,000 in cash this week. This may have prompted a rule change in the Money Cards for budget reasons. February: *February 3: a visually-impaired contestant named Susan starts her run on the show. **As of February 3, $0 Money Cards wins now display as "BUST" instead of "$0" as of this week. **As of February 3, X indicators for game wins first appear this week. **As of February 3, contestants can only change one card per line in the Money Cards. *On February 7, a contestant bets all of her money higher than a queen in the Money Cards and wins. March: *As of March 3, the opening theme is updated, and used for the remainder of the series. *On March 24: Faith becomes the biggest Money Cards winner in all incarnations of the show, winning $29,000 in a single playing of the Money Cards, overshadowing Norma Brown's maximum $28,800 win in Jim Perry's run in 1978. Spring *On May #, Mark Goodson makes a cameo appearance, and recites a poem. *As of May ##, until sometime in October, still images of Money Cards winners started being shown prior to commercial break after Money Cards. Summer July: *July 4 was the first nationwide pre-emption of Card Sharks, this time due to the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty coverage. Every game show, except for Press Your Luck, was pre-empted that day. *July 7-11 was the first Young People's Week of the series.. *July 14 was the first show with the audience poll questions involving ten individuals. August: *August 25-29 was Young People's Week II. *On August 25 and 26, future Baywatch actress Kelly Packard makes her appearance. *As of August 25, audience polling groups now share a common occupation or belong in a certain group of people. *On September 2, the lowest non-$0 win at this point, Gayla wins only $100 on the Money Cards. *As of September ##, the contestant's face in the Money Cards is shown in a diamond instead of in a circle. *As of September ##, the money cards scoreboard uses a dark red color scheme instead of a deep orange color scheme. Fall October: *From October 13, until sometime later in 1987: members of the audience polling group start wearing nametags, which have a yellow background with black letters. *On October ##: Bruce, the only contestant in a wheelchair, starts his run. *On October 27, Version 1.0 of the car game, with seven numbered cards and three jokers in the Money Cards deck, debuts. *Educated guess questions also debut today, though until December 12, answers could be no more than 99. *Starting on October 27, the models start wearing different outfits instead of the traditional uniforms. *On October 29: Jeff is the first contestant in the CBS series to win a car. November: *On November 4, a contestant named Bob Eubanks makes his appearance. The host's reaction is priceless! December: *December 1-5: Young People's Week III airs, and kids play the bonus game for a trip to Hawaii instead of a car, and are awarded with two free jokers; thus there are two more in the Money Cards deck. *December 12-18: Educated guess questions now allow for answers greater than 99 as of this week, and for this week only, contestants write their guess on a card, similar to panelists writing their responses on Match Game. *December 19-25, Christmas decorations are prevalent. *As of December 19, on the educated guess questions, a contestant's numeric guess appears in chyron text appearing digit after digit on your screen. *As of December 19, the infamous losing horns are now heard on the car game if the car is not won. *December 28, 1986-January 2, 1987: Young People's Week IV starts and continues into the beginning of 1987. 1987 Winter January: *January 19-23: Young People's Week V airs. *On January 21, a bizarre educated guess question about the models' combined weight is asked, and the models dare Bob to be weighed! *January 29 was the start of a car game losing streak, which lasts for 25 playings for a car. February: *February 2-13, educated guess answer reveals appear to have a flipping animation effect, similar to the passwords appearing on the screen on Super Password. *February 16-20: Young People's Week VI airs. *As of February 16, educated guess reveals revert back to to the original format, first used on December 19, 1986. *February 17-18 is future child actress Kellie Martin's run on the show. *As of February 23, Lacey and Suzanna start doing model poses in the car game, similar to what Barker's Beauties do on The Price is Right. This would only be prevalent if a car was being offered. March: *On March 4, an educated guess question involved an audio clip. *On March 10, after a 25-game losing streak, a car is finally won. Spring *April 13 was the first show with no Money Cards and no car game being played, due to a match consuming the entire episode. *May 4 was perhaps the only time an educated guess question was used as a show's first question. Summer *Beginning around June 30, some scattered episodes were pre-empted due to coverage of the Iran-Contra hearings. *Sometime in the summer, was the only time a contestant wins three cars. This would be the last time three cars were won on a CBS game show until the pricing game "Triple Play" on The Price is Right. *During the opening, the green background that the computer-animated cards are dealt out on is now transparent, and shows the week's featured car. The opening spiel is modified to "You can win this beautiful car (or sporty truck/jeep) on the turn of a card, on Card Sharks! And if you play your cards right, you could win $32,000!" Fall *Sometime by the fall, educated guess answers when revealed on your screen have a pastel-green border. *Sometime in by the fall, the font on the educated guess reveal is also updated to a Clarendon-style font. December: *By December 14, a $32,000 chyron graphic appears during the opening, and has a black shadow effect, and blinks a few times. *Also, by December 14, a flashing marquee behind the week's featured car appears. *December 21-31: Two consecutive weeks of Young People's Weeks, with the bonus game played for a holiday gift package, consisting of a trip to Hawaii, a bumper pool table, a computer, a pair of bicycles, a VCR, and a sailboat *December 28-31: Bob Goen makes a series of cameo appearances to plug the game show disaster Blackout, which debuts a week later. 1988 Winter *Sometime in January, the $32,000 chyron graphic during the intro now has a red shadow effect. *Sometime in January, was the second time a contestant has $16,000 on the Big Bet row, and nearly wins the maximum $32,000 cash in the Money Cards. *As of February 29: tiebreaker rules are changed to a one-question sudden death game, where both base cards are shown before the winner of the question decides what they want to do. Spring *March 28-April 1: Young People's Week. WIN! cards from Christmas 1987 are still used, though the bonus prize reverts back to just a trip to Hawaii. *On March 29, Bob announces to the world that Lacey Pemberton is pregnant. *June 6-10: Ray Combs, the host of the new version of Family Feud makes a series of cameo appearances to plug Family Feud, which premiered on CBS four weeks later. Summer July: *Starting July 4: In an attempt to reboot ratings, the car game was updated to involve a question involving the week's audience polling group, and contestants were required to register his/her answer on the range board (a scale with numbers 0 to 10, with a blue diamond to move the marker on his/her guess). This format was based on the "Judge the Jury" segment on the 1979 game show Mindreaders. *July 11-15: The seven numbered cards make their final appearances this week, since this week of episodes was taped before the range board car game debut episode was taped. *July ## was the first time the car was won on the range board car game. August: *August # was Lacey's last show before her maternity leave. *From August # until December 9, guest models start appearing while Lacey is on maternity leave. Fall *November 21-23: Possible first Young People's Week with the range board bonus game, with the rules modified so that young contestants could win the trip to Hawaii if exactly right or off by one ($500 bonus is eliminated for this week only) December: *December 9 was the last episode with guest models filling in for Lacey. *On December 12, Lacey returns from her maternity leave. *December 19-23: Christmas decorations prevalent this week. 1989 *January 20 was the last nationwide pre-emption of the series - this time, due to President George H.W. Bush's inauguration coverage. *March ##: Since the show is confirmed by this point to be cancelled, the final Young People's Week winner was brought back to play for a trip to Hawaii, despite not being Young People's Week. *March 31: Final episode aired on CBS. During the final playing of the car game, the $500 bonus was eliminated, and the contestant would win the car if exactly right, or off by one.